FRANCE
The Regions of France today In 1790 after the
French Revolution, the historical provinces of the kingdom of France
were superceded by the establishment of the département system.

The Departments in southwest France in 1811

The Region of Aquitaine

St. Jean de Luz is in the modern département
of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (formerly Basses-Pyrénées)
in the lower coastal region of Aquitaine
in southwest France. This is in French Basque country in the old
Basque province of Labourd. Prior
to the French Revolution and the département
system, the
coastal region had been part of the historical French province of
Gascony. Carolyn Colucci's great
great great grandparents James and Catherine Sutherland marched from Spain, arriving in this region with the
2nd Battalion of the 59th Regiment of the Foot on November 11, 1813, the day
after the Battle of the Nivelle during the Peninsular Wars. Their
son, James Sutherland, Jr., was
born in December in
a stable in St. Jean de Luz when his parents were cantoned
there with the 59th and the Marquess of Wellington. Around the
time of James' birth his father was promoted to
Corporal. After the battle of Nive at Bayonne Dec. 9-13, the 59th
regiment had fulfilled its Peninsular war duties and so in early 1814
made its way to Bordeaux from where it sailed for Ireland in May.
James Sr. later returned to France after his part in the Battle of
Waterloo when his Division crossed into France on June 22, 1815, took
part in the storming of Cambrai and marched on to Paris. There
they were encamped at the Bois de Boulogne for four months before
moving a bit south to Montlhéry. In December they marched
to Calais and sailed for England.
The family later went to the 1st
Battalion of the 59th stationed in India, where James Sr. later died in
1825 in Cawnpore (now Kanpur). His son, James Sutherland Jr.,
enlisted in the regiment the following spring at the age of 12 in
Cawnpore, and at the end of his military career settled in
Claverton near Bath, Somerset in England.)